Adding, subtracting and totaling calculator

ABSTRACT

A carriage shifting mechanism for portable adding, subtracting and totaling calculators comprising shift pins arranged vertically on a carriage which is urged towards the higher order numerical positions, a carriage shifting member to depress, upon operating one of digit keys on a keyboard, the shift pin corresponding to the decimal place in which a digit is set, and a stop member which is engaged with the shift pin when it is not depressed and which is disengaged therefrom when it is depressed, thereby enabling the carriage to be shifted by one decimal place towards a higher order decimal position upon depression of the shift pin.

United States Patent Oba et al.

[451 July 18,1972

[54] ADDING, SUBTRACTING AND TOTALING CALCULATOR [72] Inventors: Harutaro Oba; Toshlhiko Sawazu; Sugio Takeuclli; Norio Yamaquchi, all of Shizuoka-ken, Japan Ammon ..235/60 TK 2,303,692 12/ 1942 Hellgren ..235/60 TK 2,315,908 4/ 1943 Starrett ..235/60 TK X 2,753,111 7/1956 Tancred. ..235/60 TK 2,835,441 5/1958 Pitman ...235/60 TK 3,053,443 9/ 1962 Trumpelmann ..235/60 TK Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Stanley A. Wal Attorney-Flynn & Frishauf [57] ABSTRACT A carriage shifting mechanism for portable adding, subtracting and totaling calculators comprising shift pins arranged vertically on a carriage which is urged towards the higher order numerical positions, a carriage shifting member to depress, upon operating one of digit keys on a keyboard, the shift pin corresponding to the decimal place in which a digit is set, and a stop member which is engaged with the shift pin when it is not depressed and which is disengaged therefrom when it is depressed, thereby enabling the carriage to be shifted by one decimal place towards a higher order decimal position upon depression of the shift pin.

3 Chins, 9 Drawing figures PATENTEDJuL 18 Ian [SHEET u 0F. 7

PATENTEDJUL 18 \912 3.677.464

sum 5 OF 7 ADDING, SUBTRACTING AND TOTALING CALCULATOR This invention relates to an adding, subtracting and totaling calculator, and more particularly to a calculator having a simplified carriage shifting mechanism.

Carriage shifting mechanisms of conventional portable calculators have a member or members which are different from digit memory pins and which are used only for shifting the carriage. Moreover, the prior art portable calculators are not provided with means for preventing the carriage shifting members from returning to their initial position when the calculator is subjected to large shocks. This means that a shock would sometimes cause miscalculations or breakage of a prior art calculator.

An object of this invention is to provide an adding, subtracting and totaling calculator so improved as to have a simple and compact construction, and which has a carriage shifting mechanism using shift pins concurrently with digit pins to selectively shift the carriage by one digit place towards the higher order.

Another object of this invention is to provide a portable calculator free from any miscalculations which would otherwise result from undesirable return of shift pins to their initial position, especially when the calculator is subjected to large shocks.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a portable calculator having means for shifting a carriage in two steps so as to prevent the carriage from being operated mistakenly.

This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a right side view of a calculator embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a detailed left side view of a memory transmitting unit;

FIG. 2B is an expanded perspective view of the memory transmitting unit of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3 is an expanded perspective view of a digit memory device of the calculator of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a return device in the calculator;

FIG. 5 is a front view, partly broken away, of a carriage shifting mechanism;

FIG. 6 is a front view of said carriage of FIG. 5 wherein another push button is operated;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatical front view of another embodiment of a pin carriage and stop member;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatical front view of still another embodiment of a pin carriage and a stop member; and

FIG. 9 is a front view of another embodiment of a carriage shifting mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows a schematic construction of a portable ten-key adding, subtracting and totaling calculator comprising a digit memory device 1, a keyboard 18 with digit and function keys 19 disposed thereon, a carry and balance mechanism, and a platen roller 140.

The digit memory device 1 includes a transversely displaceable pin carriage 3 with a plurality of memory pins arranged in the form of a matrix 4, eight longitudinally movable memory transmitting units 5, a digit display device 6 and an accumulator 7.

In FIG. 3, the pin carriage 3 is slidably supported at the forward and rear edge portions 30 and 312 by two rails 8 each having a round cross-section. Rails 8 are arranged parallel to one another and extend transversely so as to bridge both side walls of a calculator body or frame (not shown).

Said memory pins pass through the pin carriage 3 and are arranged for limited movement perpendicular to its plane. The pins may be selectively shifted in the direction of their length between a lower, set position in which the lower end portion of each pin projects downwardly from said pin carriage 3, and

an upper, retracting position in which the upper end portion of the pin projects upwardly from said pin carriage. The pins are retained in position by the action of a spring member 9 (FIGS. 5 and 6) engaging each body of said pins 4. Each of the rows of the matrix 10a, 10b, 10c and 10g consists of 10 memory pins 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4j which are arranged in the order of digits of 0 to 9 from the forward to the rear end of the calculator. The right-hand rows at the matrix 4 correspond to decimal places one order lower than the adjacent left-hand rows.

There is provided an extension spring 11 (FIG. 3) which urges said carriage 3 in the left-hand direction of the calculator body. The pins 4 function to indicate digits of 9 as well as for place shifting. A stop member 12 (FIGS. 5 and 6) is attached to the bottom plate of the later described box-shaped frame 13 so that the lower end of the member 12 is disposed in the same direction as that in which the pins 4j are arranged, at a level where it strikes against the upper portion of the pins 4] when they are not depressed. When the shift pin 4j on which the stop member abuts is depressed, the member 12 is moved by the spring 11 in the left-hand direction until it engages the shift pin 4j of the next higher order.

Referring to FIG. 3, in order to return said carriage 3 to the initial position from which its displacement commences against the bias of said spring 11, there are provided a manual operating member 15 attached to said carriage 3, and an automatically operating device 16.

The automatically operating device 16 of FIG. 3 comprises a traction arm having its one end pivotally mounted on said carriage 3 by means of a pin 16b, a bell-crank 16c pivotally mounted on the frame (not shown) by means of a pin 16d, said bell-crank 16c having two arms 16c and 16f, and a guide post 163 attached to the bell-crank arm 16f. The free end of bell-crank arm l6e is pivotally connected with said traction arm 160 by means of a pin 16h, and said bell-crank arm 16f is biased by the above-mentioned spring 11, which is stretched between the frame (not shown) and the free end of said crank arm 16f.

As shown in FIG. 4, the operating device 16 further comprises a return rod l6i having a stepped contacting portion 16] for engaging the guide member 16g so as to return the carriage 3, a lever 16k pivotally mounted on the left-side wall of the calculator body by means of a pin 161 and having two arms 16m and l6n, one of which is connected with the rear end of said return rod 161' by a pivot pin 160 and the other of which is provided with a roller 16p which engages a cam, and a coiled spring member 16q for urging the return rod l6i in a direction wherein said rod l6i is urged downwardly and rearwardly in such a manner to cause the roller 16p to engage the operating surface of a cam member (not shown) and cause said contacting portion l6j to travel in a plane slightly lower than the upper end of said guide post 16g.

Below the area defined by the displacement of said carriage 3, there is provided a member 17 (FIGS. 5 and 6) for clearing the set memory of the pins 4 when the cartridge is returned. The clearing member 17 has an inclined surface 17a facing the left side extending toward the right-hand side of the calculator body.

Accordingly, when the contacting portion l6j (FIG. 4) moves forward due to the cam-operation with the guide post 163, the pin carriage 3 is returned to the starting position. Simultaneously, the set memory pins are pushed upwardly by contact with said inclined surface 17a of the clearing member 17.

The carriage 3, though urged by the spring 11 toward the left-hand side, stays at the starting position with the memory pin 4j of the extreme left-hand side group still engaged with the stop member 12.

Above said area defined by the displacement of the pin carriage 3 is disposed a box-shaped frame (FIGS. 1, 5 and 6) 13 which is mounted under a keyboard 18. The chamber formed by the keyboard and the frame contains ten pin-setting members 19a, 19b l9j corresponding to the digit pins 40,

4. 4] of any place. These pin-setting members 19a, 19j have their upper end portions projecting upwardly out of the upper plate of said frame 18 and attached to push buttons 19',

on the upper surfaces of which the corresponding digits are indicated. The pin-setting members further have their lower end portions projecting downwardly out of the lower plate of said frame 18 aligned in a longitudinal row. The setting members 19j are shorter than the other setting members.

The chamber 18a contains a carriage-shifting member 20 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which has a longitudinally extending pin a, the ends of which are secured to the forward and rear walls of said frame 18, a longitudinally extending rod 20b, and that lower end 21 of the carriage shifting member 20 which extends downwardly from the bottom plate of said frame 13 to a level slightly below the point to which there descend the lower ends of the pin-setting members 19a, 19b l9i, even if the pin-setting members are depressed.

The pin-setting members 19a, l9j (FIG. 3) are provided with respective arms 22a, 22b, 22j which extend above the rod 20b, so that the rod 20b is depressed, moving about the pivot pin 20a when any button 19 is actuated by the operator, whereby the lower end 21 causes the corresponding digit-nine pin 4 on any decimal place to be driven downwards.

Within the chamber 18 is arranged a device 23 (FIG. 3) for locking the vertical movement of all of the pin-setting members except for the member 19a. Said locking device comprises a locking plate 23a with nine forwardly projecting engaging members 24b, 24c, 24d 24j. A guide groove 23b formed in said locking plate 23a extends angularly in a horizontal plane with respect to the longitudinal direction of the calculator body, and an operating member 23c has an upper protrusion 23d integrally formed therewith and is slidably inserted into said guide groove 23b.

Said operating member 23c is urged by means of an extension spring (not shown) to the right-hand side of the frame and is pivoted to the free end of a doubly cranked connecting member 25, which is rotatably mounted on the pin 20a. An elongate locking pin 25a is attached at its middle portion to the connecting member 25 and on the pin 20a there is rotatably mounted a locking arm 25b, which is supported by said locking pin 25a.

Engaging holes 26 are formed at the neck portions of the pin-setting members 19b, 19c, 19 so as to receive the corresponding engaging members.

The pin-setting member 19a is locked by another suitable locking means (not shown) which may be driven by the movement of said operating member 23c.

Accordingly, when the operating member 23c is moved toward the right-hand side of the accumulator frame with the top protrusion 23d sliding through the guide groove 23b, the locking plate 23a is shifted forwardly so as to insert the engaging members into the corresponding engaging holes 26, with the result that the pin-setting members are brought to a locked and inoperable condition.

Referring to FIG. 2A, each of the memory transmitting units 5 comprises a longitudinally movable first member 5a and a second member 5b longitudinally movable relative to said first member 5a. To permit the relative movement of said first and second members, the first member 5a has guide pins 14a and the second member 5b has guide slits 14b slidably guided by said guide pins. Said first member 5a is adapted to transmit a memory digit represented by the amount of its own displacement to a member of the above-mentioned digit display device 6, said latter member being described there-after. Further, said first member St: has a rack 28 formed on the rear and upper portions thereof, guide slits 29 formed therein in a longitudinal direction, a stop member 30 downwardly projecting from the forward portion thereof, and an engaging portion 30a upwardly projecting from the forward portion to engage the memory pin to be set.

Said first member 5a is urged rearwardly of the accumulator frame by the bias of a spring member 31 attached to the lower end of said stop member 30, and is slidably guided by said guide slits 29 along guide plates 32, which pass through said guide slits and extend between the side walls of the calculator frame.

The rack 28 is intermeshed with the teeth of a gear wheel 33 corresponding to each of said memory transmitting units 5, said gear wheel 33 being a part of the digit display device 6.

A rotary disc 34 (FIGS. 1 and 2A) is attached to the gear wheel 33 in corresponding relationship to each of said memory transmitting units 5, and has digit characters formed on the peripheral portion thereof, and a common shaft on which all the discs 34 and gear wheels 33 of the display device 6 are supported so as to be individually rotated.

Said second member 5b is urged forwardly by the bias of a spring member 35 connecting the forward ends of the first and second members 5a and 5b.

Furthermore, said second member 5b has a toothed rack 36 (FIG. 2A) formed on the upper portion thereof, said rackteeth 36 being intermeshed with a corresponding toothed counter wheel of either of an adding wheel train 37 and a subtracting wheel train 38, which are alternately selected and form part of the accumulator 7. Both wheel trains 37 and 38 are rotatably mounted on two parallel shafts. Said parallel shafts are attached at both ends thereof to a pair of sectorial supporting plates 7a connected with a horizontal shaft 7b rotatably around its axis and vertically movable with its both ends guided through opposite slits 7c formed in members (not shown) attached to the side walls of the frame. One of the sectorial supporting plates 7a has an operating pin 7d. All the counter wheels 37a of said adding wheel trains 37 are intermeshed with the corresponding counter wheels 38a of said subtracting wheel trains 38. The counter wheels of each of said wheel trains 37 and 38 respectively have a carry member 39 having a pawl 39a formed on the side thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2B, in the intervals between the adjacent memory transmitting units 5 are located transfer members 40, each cooperating with the corresponding carry member 39. Each of said transfer members 40 is pivoted to an intermediate portion of a rocking lever 41 corresponding thereto, and is resiliently biased by means of a coiled spring 42 which urges the upper end portion 40a thereof rearwards until the upper end portion 40a of said transfer member 40 abuts on one of the guide plates 32. The lever 41 is pivoted at the forward end upon a pin 43 and has a stepped rear end portion 41a, which is urged downwards by means of a spring member 41b towards a stop member 45 fixedly disposed under said member 41. Said stepped portion 41a is engageable with a stop pin 44 mounted on the side of the second member 5b adjacent to and one order higher than that order to which said stepped portion 41a belongs. Accordingly, when the top end portion 40a is pushed by the pawl 39a so that the transfer member 40 is swung in the clockwise direction as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B thereby causing the upper end portion 40a to be released from the engagement with the guide plate 32, the stop pin 44 of the second member 5b associated with the next higher order is moved by the spring member 35 beyond the rear end of the swingable member 41 associated with the original place and engaged with the stepped portion 41a thereof so that the rack 36 is advanced by one pitch, and thus effects a carry into the next higher order of the wheel train 37 or 38.

Under the rear portions of the lever 41 of all the memory transmitting units, there is provided a transversely extending operation member 46 (FIGS. 1 and 2B), which is operated by cam action so as temporarily to raise the rear end of said swingable members 41 once for each machine cycle. Due to said lifting operation, the lever 41 is pivoted in the clockwise direction so that the transfer member 40, disengaged from the guide plate, is turned by the bias of the spring member 42 in the anti-clockwise direction so as to be again engaged with said guide plate.

A detailed discussion and disclosure of the calculating portion of the machine, and the operation thereof is given in copending application US. Pat. Ser. No. 8,675, filed Feb. 4,

1970 and assigned to the same assignee as the present applicatron.

As shown in FIG. 3, there is provided at the left-hand side of the carriage 3 a stopper 135 for making inoperable those transmitting units corresponding to orders in which the memory pins are not set.

Said stopper 135 is constructed of a plate having a straight forward edge 135a and a starting portion l35b projecting downwardly from the extreme left side of said edge 135a. Said plate 135 is pivotally supported on the carriage 3 by a transverse rod 136 and the forward edge 135a is urged downwardly by the bias of a spring member 137 which connects the carriage 3 and plate 135. On the frame is disposed a supporting pin 138 for slidably receiving the starting portion l35b and edge 135a.

Accordingly, when the carriage 3 is shifted from the starting position toward the left to an extent corresponding to one decimal place, the starting portion 1351; is displaced over the supporting pin 138 and next the edge 1350 is supported by said pin 138 so that the edge 135a may be lowered into a locking position to lock the stop members 30 of the first members 5a corresponding to the order higher than that of the numeral set by the pins 40, 4j.

Numeral 140 represents a movable platen roller for bringing the rolled paper to the printing position.

When the pushbutton 19' is depressed as shown in FIG. 5, the carriage shifting member 20 is pivoted counter-clockwise about the pin 200. Then, the lower end 21 of the member 21 urges the pin 4] downward and the lower right edge thereof contacts the pin 4j of the next lower order to prevent the carriage 3 from moving to the left. Upon release of the pushbutton 19', the carriage shifting member 20 returns to its initial position so that the lower end 21 is disengaged from the pin 4 of the next lower order. The carriage 3 is moved by the force of the spring 11 to the left until the stop member 12 strikes against the pin 4] of the next lower order. Thus, the carriage 3 is shifted by a distance to an extent of one digit place.

A stop member 12' illustrated in FIG. 7 is a modification of the stop member 12 shown in FIG. 5 and is formed into a wide flat plate so as to prevent the shift pins 4j which are lowered from being moved upwards.

A stop member 12" illustrated in FIG. 7 is another modification of the stop member 12. The left side edge of said stop member 12 has an inclined surface l2"a, whereby the carriage 3 can be returned to the starting position, even if depressed shift pins at the left of the member 12" are unfavorably moved upwards.

In FIG. 9 is shown another lower portion or a limiting member 21 of the carriage shifting member 20 which has a width equal to approximately half the pitch of the shift pins 4j arranged in a line. When the push button 19' is depressed, the pin carriage 3 is moved to the left with the carriage 3 until the side portion of the shift pin 4j of the next lower order contacts the limiting member 21. The side portion remains contacted with the limiting member while the pushbutton 19 is depressed. When the limiting member 21' is raised by releasing the push button 19', the carriage 3 is driven by a distance equal to the unfinished motion of one-order displacement.

The accumulator further includes a device for maintaining the memory pins at set positions during operation, a calculating mechanism and a balancing device which are illustrated in detail in copending application Ser. No. 8,675, filed Feb. 4, 1970.

What we claim is:

l. A portable adding, subtracting and totaling calculator comprising:

a calculator frame;

a keyboard mounted on the forward upper portion of the calculator frame, said keyboard having digit keys and function keys disposed thereon;

a pin carriage movably urged to the left with respect to the calculator and having pins arranged vertically in the form of a matrix with each column of the matrix having 10 pins, nine of said pins, except the one disposed at the extreme rear end with respect to the calculator, being selectively depressed by operation of a respective digit key;

a carriage shifting mechanism comprising a carriage shifting member for lowering the rear end pins, which are located at the extreme rear end of the calculator, under depression of any of the digit keys, said shifting member being provided at its lower end with a limiting member having a width equal to substantially half the distance represented by the width of one of the rear end pins and the space between the adjacent two columns, said limiting member being adapted to abut against one of the rear end pins while it is depressed; and

a stop member having a lower end engageable with said one of the pins when said limiting member is raised, whereby while the stop member is depressed, the carriage is shifted to the left for substantially half said distance and, when the stop member is released, the carriage is shifted for the remaining half of said distance.

2. The portable calculator according to claim 1 wherein said stop member has an elongate flat plate for preventing the depressed rear end pins from being moved upward.

3. The portable calculator according to claim 1 wherein the lower end of said stop member is provided with an inclined surface at the left side edge thereof to lower depressed rear end pins when they would accidentally be moved upward. 

1. A portable adding, subtracting and totaling calculator comprising: a calculator frame; a keyboard mounted on the forward upper portion of the calculator frame, said keyboard having digit keys and function keys disposed thereon; a pin carriage movably urged to the left with respect to the calculator and having pins arranged vertically in the form of a matrix with each column of the matrix having 10 pins, nine of said pins, except the one disposed at the extreme rear end with respect to the calculator, being selectively depressed by operation of a respective digit key; a carriage shifting mechanism comprising a carriage shifting member for lowering the rear end pins, which are located at the extreme rear end of the calculator, under depression of any of the digit keys, said shifting member being provided at its lower end with a limiting member having a width equal to substantially half the distance represented by the width of one of the rear end pins and the space between the adjacent two columns, said limiting member being adapted to abut against one of the rear end pins while it is depressed; and a stop member having a lower end engageable with said one of the pins when said limiting member is raised, whereby while the stop member is depressed, the carriage is shifted to the left for substantially half said distance and, when the stop member is released, the carriage is shifted for the remaining half of said distance.
 2. The portable calculator according to claim 1 wherein said stop member has an elongate flat plate for preventing the depressed rear end pins from being moved upward.
 3. The portable calculator according to claim 1 wherein the lower end of said stop member is provideD with an inclined surface at the left side edge thereof to lower depressed rear end pins when they would accidentally be moved upward. 